“Considered As Sheep To Be Slaughtered”

 

 

“Calling” and sacrifice are inseparable in Christ. Whether “calling” is a form of vocational ministry, of discipleship (to which we are all called), or of vocation as a butcher, baker, lawyer, physician, teacher, or candlestick maker – calling and sacrifice in our obedience to Christ and our witness to Him are inseparable. If we are faithful to Jesus Christ we will know what it is to suffer for Him, to be rejected, to know pressure to conform to the world – sometimes this will be overt and other times covert, but it will be part of life in Christ and of our relationships both within and without the professing church.

 

We enjoy quoting Romans 8:31 – 39, about the incredible love of God, yet somehow we manage to gloss over 8:36, “Just as it is written, For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” This is much like enjoying Jesus’ teaching in the Upper Room, but glossing over John 15:18 – 16:4, in which Jesus says that, “A slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you, if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.”

 

I love meditating on “The Lord is my shepherd”; but am I willing to allow the Shepherd to sacrifice me as one of His sheep?

 

Paul writes, “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). Just as the Beatitudes of Matthew 5:3 – 9 lead to, “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness…”, so living godly lives in Christ Jesus will lead to opposition, resistance, pushback, and persecution. How could it be otherwise?

 

The very nature of the world – system is evil, selfish, materialistic, arrogant, prideful, power and position oriented, built on deception and lies; in short, the world – system is opposed to God. How then, can the disciple of Jesus Christ live in the world without opposing the world and the way it thinks and acts? Sooner or later obedience to Jesus Christ will conflict with the world. This conflict often occurs on a daily basis – giving us ongoing opportunities for obedience to Christ and witness to Him by words and deeds. The Nature that lives in us and the nature that lives in the world are opposed to one another – there must be friction and conflict if we are to be faithful to Jesus Christ.  However, as I previously mentioned, we are not to be hostile in the hostile world – we are called to be peacemakers in Jesus Christ.

 

Our suffering with Christ is coupled with our glorification with Christ (Romans 8:17 – 18).

 

“For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me.” (Phil. 1:29 – 30).

 

“…that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the death.” (Phil. 3:10 – 11).

 

While Paul wrote from a Roman prison to people who were going about their daily lives outside of prison, both Paul and the Christians in Philippi were living lives in Christ which were in conflict with the world around them, both were witnessing for Jesus Christ by the words they spoke and the way they lived.

 

Consider Paul’s words, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.” (Phil. 2:14 – 15).

 

Peter also writes about the connection between suffering for Christ and sharing His glory. “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.” (1 Peter 4:12 – 13).

 

I have listened to countless American Christians talk about coming persecution, and I think, and have often said, that it is unlikely that the professing church in America will be persecuted for the sake of Christ. Why? Because we love money, and the dollar is the arbiter of our lives. Or, as Francis Schaffer might say, we love “personal peace and affluence.” But I’ve also said that the only reason we don’t experience persecution now is that we are disobedient to Christ. We don’t witness. We “go along to get along” with the world around us, including the workplace around us. We don’t support one another when one of us does encounter trial and opposition for obedience to Christ. We are chameleons – changing colors to blend into our environments.

 

How many of us will spend our entire lives in the workplace without ever sharing Jesus Christ with coworkers? How many of us will spend our lives acquiescing and endorsing devious business practices in disobedience to Jesus Christ?

 

How many of us are offering our children on the altars of demons in order to fit in with the society around us?

 

Let’s recall that in Ezekiel 2:5 that God told Ezekiel that “whether they listen or not…they will know that a prophet has been among them.” Will people know, do people know, that a Christian, a disciple of Jesus Christ, has been among them when they work with us? When we live in their neighborhoods? When we meet them in civic or recreational functions? When we attend school with them?

 

Let us make no mistake, we are talking about sacrificing ourselves for Jesus Christ and others (Romans 12:1 – 2; Mark 8:34ff). We are speaking of living sacrificial lives, intercessory lives, for Jesus Christ and others. The Nature of the Lamb of God is sacrificial, the Nature of the lambs which the Good Shepherd tends is likewise sacrificial. “Witness” to Jesus Christ requires a life of sacrifice.

 

If we do not know what sacrifice is in small things, it is not likely that we shall know what sacrifice is in big things. If we have not been faithful in small opportunities, it is not likely that we shall have the privilege of responding to large opportunities. Small opportunities become mountains when we do not practice lives of obedient witness.

 

For example, if we go along with workplace gossip it becomes harder and harder to say “no” to the gossip. If we participate in disrespect toward those in authority, it becomes harder and harder to break that cycle. If we once acquiesce in or participate in coarse language and subject matter in the workplace or a social setting, it is difficult to recover that ground so that we may live as holy men and women and witness for Christ.

 

Consider Ephesians 4:17 – 5:21, a person cannot live in obedience to Jesus Christ in these things and not live as a witness to Him, and not live in conflict with the world. Do we see that our lives, our words and actions, are the bedrock of our witness? Do we understand that sharing in the rejection and sufferings of Jesus Christ are elements of taking up the Cross? Are we living in the awareness that, “If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you” (1 Peter 4:14)?

 

Jesus concludes His call to discipleship in Mark 8:34 – 38 with these words:

 

“For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

 

Are we living as Christ’s sacrificial lambs?